The Missouri Tigers wanted to work on their offense and making sure their players were set up to succeed.
So they called in someone who could help make everyone more comfortable.
“We had a company that does some movement preferences come in,” Missouri coach Larissa Anderson said. “And they kind of educated us and worked with us, the coaching staff and also strength and conditioning on different body types and how to be able to recognize everyone’s neutral and where everyone is most efficient.”
Anderson said she learned most athletes fit into two categories, either being more comfortable in a flexion state - a bent stance, either in a crouch or with more of a lean - or an extended state - standing close to straight up.
And one of the Tigers that has taken most to a change in her batting stance is senior catcher Julia Crenshaw.
“When you’re catching and in a squat position, you’re more in flexion,” Anderson said. “And Julia wants to be in extension, so she’s a lot more upright. If you were to look at video comparing her to last year and even the previous two or three years, we were putting her in a very flexion state when she was hitting and she’s someone that wants to be more upright. So it’s allowing her body to be more comfortable and maximize the leverage that she has.”
And the results have come quickly.
Crenshaw didn’t play much as a freshman, then was primarily a second baseman as a sophomore before taking the full-time catcher spot her junior season. She hit .267 with 13 doubles and nine home runs, while reaching base at a .357 clip as a primary second baseman in 2023.
But her junior year, as she shifted fully behind the plate, she regressed a bit, hitting just .207 with nine doubles and three home runs as her on-base percentage dropped to .291, largely thanks to getting hit by eight fewer pitches.
“She’s a middle infielder that we’re putting behind the plate,” Anderson said. “And then as a catcher, you’re in that squat position and she needs to hit as the tall, lengthy person that she is, not as a catcher that’s short and squatty. So it’s finding … better mechanics for her and a better hitting position for her or that allows her body to work more efficiently.”
And Crenshaw isn’t the only one taking advantage of the change, though Anderson said she is visibly the most notable.
Anderson said freshman Saniya Hill, sophomore Madison Walker and senior Kara Daly have all used the adjustments to their advantage as well.
And while the stance change might not be as visible as it is with Crenshaw, the results change for Walker has been incredible. After playing 18 games as a freshman with 12 total hits and one double for her lone extra-base hit, Walker has already launched nine home runs in 21 games while hitting .264 with three doubles and 23 RBI.
Daly has bounced back from a .207 batting average last season back to the .270 mark she hit in her first two seasons, while already hitting four runs runs and Hill has opened her college career hitting .333 in her first 14 games.
“The analogy I can give you is, if, right now, you were to cross your arms in front of you, you’re going to do what’s most natural (right over left or left over right),” Anderson said. “And if, as a coach, I tell you, I want you to switch them, like, you can do it, it just feels awkward. And if you’re not putting an athlete in a position that’s most natural to them, the repetition, they’re going to continue to be able to do it and they might have some success in crossing their arms the other way, it’s just going to feel awkward. So it’s finding the best position for their body to move the most naturally.”
As a team, the Tiger focus on natural comfortability has led to a team that is averaging 5.05 runs per game while improving their team OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) from .748 last season to .821 in the early going this year.
So though the Tigers haven’t won at quite the clip they expected early in the season, the offensive improvement has been clear and Anderson credits it, at least in part, to focusing on comfortability.
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